CultureNOW - Liberty Hotel (Charles Street Jail): Cambridge Seven Associates Inc., Ann Beha Architects and Peter Vanderwarker

Liberty Hotel (Charles Street Jail)
Historic Buildings: Hospitality

Architect
Cambridge Seven Associates Inc.

Renovation Architect
Ann Beha Architects

Photographer
Peter Vanderwarker

Dates

Constructed, 2007

Landmark Designations

National Historic Landmark
Sustainable Design

Awards

Boston Preservation Alliance Award 2008
Interior Design/HOTELS Magazine Best Hotel Design 2008
International Masonry Institute Award 2008
Massachusetts Historical Commission Award 2008
National Housing 2008
Bostonian Society Award 2008
Buildings Magazine Award 2008
Preservation Massachusetts Award 2012

Podcasts

The Liberty Hotel - Gary Johnson

about

Description

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ABOUT THE LIBERTY HOTEL (FORMERLY THE CHARLES STREET JAIL)
The former Charles Street Jail, a national historic landmark, has been transformed into a new four-star luxury hotel on its prominent site overlooking the Charles River. Through restoration, reuse and reinvention, Cambridge Seven Associates with Ann Beha Architects designed the obsolete structure to be reborn as a vital commercial development incorporating historically significant portions of the building, and integrated into the urban fabric of its Beacon Hill neighborhood. Developed by Carpenter & Company, The Liberty Hotel is a full service hotel including 298 guest rooms, a conference facility, ballroom, health club, lounge, restaurants and attractive amenities.

ABOUT THE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS
"In the photograph on the left, one wing of the Charles Street Jail is being engulfed by new steel construction undertaken by Massachusetts General Hospital. Given the old jail’s pioneering of inmate health, there’s some justice in the fact that part of it will become an outpatient care center for women, children, and cancer patients.

The Charles Street Jail, finished in 1851, is shown on the right in a photograph from the 1860s. The design of the jail became a model for prisons built all over the United States in the last half of the 19th century. The building featured fireproof construction, with a central administration block and four radiating wings that allowed ventilation and light to reach every cell. The prison also included large open communal work spaces and level, well-drained exercise yards. It was used continuously as a jail until its closing in 1990. Although it looks primitive by today’s standards, it was a great step forward for its time.

The thick, rusticated granite walls of the Charles Street Jail might remind one of the State Street Block, a sturdy warehouse that sits on State Street right next to the Custom House Tower. Both were designed by Gridley J.F. Bryant, who also designed Boston’s Old City Hall.

The remaining three wings of the cross-shaped prison will be restored as the lobby, restaurants, and guest rooms of a $75 million, 300-room hotel and conference center being developed by Carpenter and Co. The architects for the project are Cambridge Seven Associates, with Anne Beha Architects as preservation architects.

Missing from both photographs is Buzzy’s Roast Beef, a landmark for anyone who needed a sandwich in the very late hours of the night. Buzzy’s, which was razed in September of last year, sat just behind where the large dump truck is parked at right center of the new view."

-Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, "CITYSCAPES - Charles Street Jail," Boston Globe, 2003

map not available at this time.

Location

215 Charles St
Boston, MA 02114
United States

Nearby Items

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Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital		546 feet
Beacon Hill		640 feet
Bay Village		643 feet
The Ether Dome		652 feet
Nursing Sundial sculpture at MGH		660 feet
Bulfinch Building at Massachusetts General Hospital		0.3 miles